


The Royale Reveal

by CaptainKillian



Series: Super does not mean best. [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Panic Attacks, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23360422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainKillian/pseuds/CaptainKillian
Summary: The life of a super is not all fun and games. It's especially hard on their children.This is the story of Roman Royale and his journey into Superhero stardom.The friends and relationships he makes along the way are nothing compared to the hurt and understanding that comes with it. His life has been everything but simple and with the rise of an old supervillain with new sidekick, will Roman be up to the task of holding together a team of troubled teenagers?
Series: Super does not mean best. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680181
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. The Routine

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the first in a series about the sides as supers. This story is Roman-centric, each of the stories will be based on one or a few sides.  
> Please note that each chapter is descriptive and will have their own bouts of angst.  
> If you like it, please comment what you think of the chapters.

Roman Royale’s first memory was of his 4th birthday, it was the day that his party got interrupted by Techno, he had to hide under the stairs for almost 3 hours while his parents dealt with it. You see, Roman is a super. His Parents are also supers.

King and Queen. That is what they are known as. King, or as he is known in the civilian world Romulus Royale, had the power of flight and was very good at most, if not all, types of martial arts. He raised Roman with the values of a king, never took no for an answer and bestowed him with more money than he could shake a stick at.

His mother, Seraphina Royale or going by her alter-ego Queen, was blessed with reality manipulation. She could create invisible shields, control a person’s thought, create objects out of nothing and much much more. She raised Roman to be who he is today. Cautious about making friends with the wrong type of person, always worried about keeping up appearances and above all else, being a good hero.

For most people, having supers as parents would be a dream come true but for Roman, it is hell on earth. Ever since he could talk he has been in Language lessons, Martial arts classes, strategy clubs and drama courses. He has had his costume and super name picked out for him ever since he started walking. When he was 7 he started joining his parents for lower-risk cases, taking down monologuing villains and stopping bank robberies, risking his life but not at his own expense.

Much like his parents, Roman was born super. He was genetically given his powers from his parents, flight and shields, which surprised his parents to no end. The thing is, Roman wishes he was born civilian, he hates his powers, he hates his life.

He started secondary school 3 years ago and can’t stand it.  
6AM, wake up and train in Martial arts and Chinese.  
8AM, get ready for school and finish homework.  
9AM til 3PM private school where he is expected to be top of his class in every subject to show the quality of the Royale family.  
3:30PM, Strategy club.  
4:30PM, Drama club  
5:30PM until 7PM French, Spanish and Russian classes.  
From 8PM until 10PM he would be in training yet again learning Judo, Taekwondo and Kickboxing.  
Then and only then would he be allowed to do his homework and sleep.

It is currently 6:15AM and his martial arts sensei is rapping his fist against his bedroom door over and over “GET UP ROMAN! YOU’RE LATE!” He yells through the door and Roman groans, on the verge of tears as he stumbles out of bed to get into his sweats and training shirt.

When he eventually answers the door at 6:30 he is met with the furious face of his father instead of his sensei. Roman’s eyes widen in slight shock “Ah, Father, I was just on my way to-..”

He is cut off by his fathers stern voice “What do you think you’re playing at? You were supposed to be in the training room 30 minutes ago! I am not paying your sensei to stand around and do nothing!” his voice gets louder the more he talks, his face matching the volume by turning red over time from anger “You are a ROYALE! You are to be on time and succeed! This is ALL We ask of you Roman. How can you expect to catch a villain if you can’t even be ON TIME!” he is yelling at this point, up in Roman’s face who is bent back with fear slightly painting his features.

“I-I’m sorry father. I will try harder.” He says weakly to try and calm his father who moves out of the way in silent anger to let Roman past. He runs to his training room, the dam of tears close to breaking as he flies in, almost tripping on the mat only to be met with an empty room.

He is stood still for barely a few seconds before his sensei sneaks up behind him and sweeps his legs from underneath him. Sending Roman crashing to the mat with a loud “OOMPH”. Roman rolls over and starts combating with his sensei, only to end up being slammed back onto the mat 5 minutes later, straight onto a fresh bruise from yesterday which makes him cry out in pain.

This loop of him being beaten onto the mat continues until 7 which is when his Chinese teacher peaks her head through the door to call for him. He never bothers to shower between morning sessions, his muscles stuck in a constant ache from the brutal training.

His Chinese session goes on with many hitches to the point Roman is openly crying as he tries to remember the word for upper hand in Chinese with his teacher shouting loudly “HOW WILL YOU THREATEN A VILLAIN IN CHINESE IF YOU CAN’T SAY THIS?!”, her face screwed into what Roman would say resembles an angry toddler, He has never understood the need for Chinese in a battle and he won’t start understanding now.

By the time 8AM rolls around he is leaving the home library shaking and trying desperately to wipe away his tears. He looks a mess and he knows it. He openly lets himself cry in the shower, knowing that he actually has privacy here. He is sat in the shower with his head against his knees sobbing as the water cascades down his bruised back, his muscles aching and knotted.

After he has managed to get his uniform, robes and cap on he hears the chauffeur beeping the car horn from the front garden. He jogs down the long steps and slips into the grand dining room to grab a few pieces of toast and some fruit before getting into the car “Sorry Theo…I was just finishing up in the bathroom…” he says gently before he starts eating.

The school he attends is a large private school, it is known for it’s strict but high-quality education with the school building itself looking almost like a castle. It is a boarding school but because of Roman’s parent’s status, for the safety of the school he has managed to avoid the boarding side of it and still lives at home.

This is good for his privacy but also bad for his relations. He only has two friends; both of which were handpicked by his parents. They are both children of powerful superheroes, Joan is the child of Soundwave and Hypno. And Leo is the son of Cinderblock and Sally-Stretch.

They weren’t bad friends, but they weren’t particularly good either. They were moreover pissed that they ended up forced to be in classes with Roman, constantly shown up by the A-lister’s child.

Roman meets them at the front gate, putting up his usual superhero confidence “Hello my dear friends, how have you been since we last talked?” he asked in his heroic jest only to be thrown a glare by Joan and given a shrug by Leo “Could be better Super-douche.” Joan grumbles as the group start making their way through the halls, as usual, Roman is met with sniggers and glares from other students. They obviously started a new rumour last night in his absence.

The thing is, not staying at the boarding school means that he misses out on a lot of important information such as relationships, gossip and rumours, meaning he is left out a lot since he would never understand.


	2. The Villains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His first encounter with a new enemy leads to a difficult situation for the young super.  
> Will his heroic acts backfire or will he prove to be on top.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a double update since it is release day.  
> I hope you guys like it :)

School classes for Roman are mostly him being sat, almost bored out of his mind knowing that a teacher will call on him for any and all answers. Except today, this is not true. Halfway through his Ancient Literature class the teacher asks a question, but he is beaten to the answer by a boy a few seats in front. Roman looks genuinely shocked at this and frowns at the boy unknowingly. This happens three more times before class finishes and the students file out leaving Roman and the smart kid, Roman didn’t recognise him and before the boy could leave, he catches the kid’s wrist.

“What do you want?” the boy asks, readjusting his glasses slightly as he turned to glare at his capturer. The boy was rather pale and tall his figure slim but muscular. He had perfectly parted brown hair and rectangular glasses. This boy was very handsome.

“U-Um…I just. I don’t know you. Are you new? I’m usually the only one who answers questions…” he says, knowing it would be rude to straight up ask the kid why he was answering questions, knowing that not answering them has now gotten him into trouble with his parents.

The handsome boy looks him up and down “I am a new transfer from Chells. Logan Berri. Can you let go of my wrist?” He says calmly, his voice stern and straightforward.

Roman’s eyes go slightly wide as the name floats around in his head for a few seconds, connecting finally with the news article he read the other day ‘ _Son of renowned supervillains Techno and Brain uses powers to stop parents. Is this the end of Techno and Brain? Are we in store for a new supervillain?_ ’ Without thinking, he looks straight into Logan’s eyes, a frown on his face “You’re Techno and Brain’s kid right?” His superhero confidence now replaced with pure anger.

Logan looks mildly shocked before he snatches his wrist out of Roman’s grip “Please do not call them that. Their names are Tilly and Harvey Berri.” He grumbles, knowing that this conversation will end in either him getting beaten up or complimented on crimes he didn’t commit.

The young Royale pushes Logan sharply, pinning him to the wall and getting rather close to him “I’m the son of King and Queen, you make one wrong move and I will destroy your life. You understand?” he growls deeply in Logan’s ear, shocking the taller boy slightly into putting a hand on his chest and nodding.

After that small altercation Roman quickly grabs his things and moves straight onto his next class. He keeps his head down, knowing that any report of bad behaviour from teachers would go straight to his parents.

The rest of the day goes about as good as it can with Roman flopping face down into his bed after the exhausting day and feeling the aching urge to cry himself to sleep, he rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling. Thinking what his life would have been like if he didn’t have supers for parents. Thinking about what it would be like if he was a villain instead of a hero. Thinking about what it would be like if he was dead.

Dead?

Did he really think that? He jolts upright, feeling a tear slipping down his soft cheek. Wiping away the proof of his sadness he goes to his bedroom window, looking out into the dark back garden with a hopeless, tired expression only to catch eyes with someone dressed in all black combat gear, a cloud emblem on their bulletproof vest and a cape, the inside lined with dark purple. Roman’s eyes widen and even in his tired state he stumbles to his closet, throwing on his white princely costume with the red and gold glittering mask and levitating, making his way back to the window and throwing it open, flying out and stumbling to stand in front of the obvious villain “STOP FIEND!” He yells and the figure who stops dead in his tracks, looking up at Roman with big eyes, a black eye mask filling up most of his face.

“Go back inside super punk. You don’t need to get involved.” The villain growls out which makes Roman put his fists up in a defensive stance “It’s Prince to you, Villain. And I am going to protect the good people of this town.” He says strongly, the garden lights turn on and the villain sighs angrily, Roman’s parents watching him closely through the back door.

“Well Prince, I’m the great and powerful DarkCloud. And if you don’t move then you’re just going to end up as another body.” The villain, DarkCloud, growls out, opening his hands but keeping his arms down to his sides.

Roman refuses to stand down, immediately going to swing for a punch. DarkCloud dodges back out of the way and raises one open hand, throwing what seems to be smoke at Prince, blocking his vision and making him cough as the garden slowly gets smokier and smokier. The smoke makes Roman’s eyes water as he starts swinging for the figure he can see in the garden, managing to get a few solid hits on him before he starts getting dizzy, most probably from the smoke.

Before he knows it, he is waking up coughing, led in the garden with a note stapled to his costume. Roman glances down and snatches the not off of himself to read it.

“King and Queen,  
I have found you. Your reign is over.  
Prepare to be annihilated by SmokeScreen and DarkCloud.  
We know where you live, and you are not getting out of this alive.  
-SS”

Roman looks at the note with wide eyes, looking up at the sound of footsteps to see his mother “Mother I-.” He is interrupted rudely by his mother, in full costume “What does the note say.” She questions statically.

Roman glances down at the note and breaths in to start speaking, only to end up in a coughing fit from the smoke. His mother snatches the note from him, reading it over and huffing “Pack a bag. You’re staying at the boarding school for now.”

He looks genuinely shocked at that and pulls himself up to a seating position, grass stains now up the back of his costume “But Mother-..” He is yet again interrupted “PACK, NOW!” she yells, this being one of the first times she has ever yelled at him, making him flinch and a bad feeling settle in the pit of his stomach. He nods and shakily gets himself to his feet, walking into the house to pack. He catches sight of himself in the hallway mirror, his white and red costume covered in soot and grass stains, his face tired and stained from the smoke, a few clear tracks down his cheeks where the tears fled from his eyes.

Roman changes and packs 2 suitcases worth of things before his chauffer Theo is beeping for him. It’s the middle of the night by this point and Roman’s brain is completely fried, he doesn’t know what to do, he can’t think straight, and nothing is making sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much, Again, I will say that I am updating every Saturday so keep an eye out :)


	3. The Roommate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can Roman get along with an unwanted roommate and keep his happiness in tact?  
> Are his friends actually his friends?

When he pulls up to the school the headmaster is stood waiting for him, he walks Roman to the dorm building without helping him with his things, making him struggle up 3 flights of stairs and down winding corridors before stopping in front of a room with an old looking door. “This is your room, don’t lose your key, no guests and no pets. No going out past curfew and no swapping. Have fun with your new roommate.” He says before walking off, leaving no room for questions.

Roman sighs, he smells, he looks a mess. Nothing is going right. He tries to put the key into the lock only to immediately drop it, as he bends down to pick it up his new roommate opens the door. Roman turns his head to face the space themed pyjamas, picking up his key and standing, coming face to face with Logan Berri, yet again.

“Oh for fuck sakes.” Logan grumbles before going back to his bed, sitting on it with his ankles crossed as he gets back to a book on space and time. Roman huffs angrily and pulls his things noisily inside the room, dropping one of his bags and in a burst of anger, kicking it violently, making Logan flinch and look up in shock.

“Are you okay?” Logan asks calmly which does nothing but annoy Roman even more. “I’m fine” he growls out through clenched teeth before throwing his bags onto the floor by his bed and flopping onto the squeaky hard mattress he will be spending an undetermined amount of time on, he is tired and still covered in soot, he stinks but he doesn’t care.

Logan watches the exhausted boy with confusion and worry.

‘He is the son of superheroes. What happened? Why does he look so…done…’ he thinks, looking over Roman and seeing that through his sweat soaked shirt he can see the definition of muscles but also, deep, very dark bruises? ‘Did they get attacked? Did his parents hurt him?’ He thinks, his thoughts getting slightly more frantic at that revelation. He stays silent for a few minutes before speaking.

“Did they hurt you?” he asks and Roman looks up, his face screwed into a frown “No!? What makes you think that! It’s none of your business Villain” Roman growls out and Logan flips, jumping up and throwing his book down, pressing Roman’s head into the bed, knowing he’s too exhausted to fight back “Do NOT call me a Villain. I am not a villain.” Logan all but yells before pushing against his head and going back to reading his book.

Roman is genuinely shocked at that and just huffs, turning his head and pretty much passing out.

He is woken up by a very loud alarm blaring, it doesn’t seem like an alarm clock, it’s louder, more metallic. Roman jolts up and notices that he is led on the small single bed of the school dorms, glancing over he sees that Logan’s bed is empty, perfectly made. 

Looking at his alarm clock Roman sees that it is 9am. He isn’t dressed or changed at all and is now late for his classes. He all but jumps out of bed, running to their en-suite to shower and change. 

When he gets to class, he is 20 minutes late, his hair still wet under his cap. “I’m so sorry sir…I didn’t mean to be late, I just wasn’t woken u-..” The teacher tuts loudly enough to get Roman’s attention and points to his seat with his meter stick “Sit down Royale. You’re late, that’s all that matters.” The teacher grumbles angrily.

Roman lowers his head slightly and sits in his usual seat. Leo leans over, a smirk on his pretentious lips “Good going Super-douche. First time late.” He sniggers, people are now quite loudly whispering about him, glancing at him. Roman’s first question of the day, he is beaten to it by Logan, yet again.

The rest of his day goes pretty much awfully, Logan answers all of his usual questions, Roman has missed 3 classes homework because of his nightly disruption. He is exhausted and completely thrown off schedule when school ends at 3PM and no one is there to take him to his extracurricular classes.

He thinks that perhaps his parents are just busy so he walks himself there, near the other side of town. When he gets there he is already 10 minutes late for his strategy club and his robes are nearly soaked through from the summer heat. He sits near the back of the room, just listening in on what is going on. He trails himself to his Drama club after that and barely participates before going to his language classes.

It isn’t until his Russian class where the idea of a Super Convention is pitched to him. His parents already said yes, and they want him to be there to get more youths into the idea of heroism. He agrees, heroically, obviously not wanting to upset his parents in the long run before he makes the trek back to his dorms, knowing his training classes are most probably postponed until he is back home.

When he gets back to his dorms the door is locked, he missed curfew. He tries the door a couple more times before sighing, this is not a good day. He then decides to fly up to his room to see if Logan left the window open. He didn’t.

Said boy is currently asleep, all the lights off and after a few taps on the window, it’s obvious that he’s not getting up. Roman’s hands are shaking at this point, he doesn’t know what to do and panics for a minute or so before remembering Joan and Leo are in the same building.

He flies to Joan’s room first, their roommate is awake, but Joan is not. He doesn’t want to push his luck. He then goes to Leo’s room and sees him awake and at his desk, Roman contemplates for a few seconds before knocking on the window. Leo looks round in pure shock before frowning at Roman. “Leo, can you let me in? I got back late…” he says gently, trying not to wake up Leo’s roommate.

Leo looks down at his work for a little while before looking back to Roman, shaking his head angrily as he gets up to let Roman in. He smiles as he steps through the window, bowing his head slightly “Thank you Leo, you are a great friend.” He waits for a response, but Leo gives none, huffing and getting back to his work.

Roman walks through the dark halls of the dorm alone, getting into his room and looking at Logan, the boy is completely knocked out, his hair splayed over his pillow and his glasses-less face looking more relaxed than usual. He looks at peace.

Roman smiles a little at that before getting into his own Pyjamas and going for a shower. When he comes back, Logan is sat up in bed, a frown on his face and his lamp on. Roman looks in genuine shock as he thought Logan was asleep.

“You sing in the shower. Please do not do that. It is late.” Logan states and Roman lowers his head, feeling ashamed that he woke Logan up.

“I’m sorry…I’ll try not to next time…” he then gets into bed, ignoring anything else Logan wants to say in favour of succumbing to the beautiful mistress sleep.


	4. The Convention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the convention arriving, how will he deal with his parents after what happened?

Roman prepares over the coming weeks as much as he can for the Super Convention, his excitement getting larger and larger the closer the date gets. He manages to get a day off school to prepare and gets there early before the guests on the day.

On the day, he dresses in his princely attire, only just managing to iron it from the last incident. He places his red and gold mask easily over his eyes before getting to the convention centre.

He is let in with a ‘Certified Hero’ wristband and makes his way to his parent’s stand. He walks past Hypno, Cinderblock, Sally-Stretch and a few others before he reaches his parent’s table.

They have the biggest stand at the convention filled with screens showing successful battles and a massive signing table with life-sized cut-outs behind them. He walks over and smiles when he sees his parents, they glance at him but do not speak, just handing him a few stacks of pictures of himself during battle and pointing him towards a smaller table off to the side.

He looks over and sees that he has his own setup. A small table with two chairs, a pathetic banner with a board behind it saying The Fantabulous Prince and a screen showing battle reels.

He finds a red tablecloth to put over his table before he lays out his pictures, sighing a little before he sits down, knowing it will be open to the public in a few minutes. His mother walks over, fiddling with Roman’s costume “We haven’t seen you in nearly 3 weeks, how have you managed to look this bad? You’re wearing the same costume; it has a grass stain on the back. Don’t turn around.” She rambles, brushing through his hair with her fingers and fixing his outfit “Mom…” he says but she doesn’t seem to hear.

She reaches into a bag set behind the large stand and gets out a smaller bag filled to the brim with makeup “You could have at least made an effort, child.” She grumbles, removing his mask and starting to apply makeup “God, we’re going to have to book you in with the dermatologist when this is over.” She keeps talking, talking over the top of Roman’s slowly increasing calls for her to stop.

“Oh Roman, I’ll need to book you in with a beautician too, look at those eyebrows?” she pats over his eyebrows and holds his chin to get a better look at his face “Maybe we can book you in with a plastic surgeon to fix that nose…That would be a good 15th birthday present, right?” She asks and at this point, Roman snaps.

He pushes her away roughly, standing up and putting his mask back on “That’s enough!” he almost yells, catching the attention of a few other supers and some of the civilians that have been allowed in.

Roman turns, looks at the pairs of eyes watching him and pretty much gives up, sitting down and lowering his head slightly. She looks down at him with anger marring her features before she leans down, gripping his shoulder, hard, “Smile. These people have payed to see you smile.” She growls out before storming back over to sit with her husband and greet the growing queue.

Roman is there for 2 hours, a smile plastered on his face. 4 people have come to his stand so far and no matter what he says to try and corral more people, especially teenagers, no one comes. He feels like they are ignoring him on purpose at this point and is about to give up before his father walks up to him, cape catching on the corner of Roman’s table, to which he pulls it off and pulls up the tablecloth, sending pictures scattering across the table.

“Prince. If you’re not going to be useful then go and get us some coffees, me and your mother are parched.” He says sternly, he wasn’t asking.

Roman looks up at his father and tries desperately to keep his expression in check “Yes King, of course.” He says triumphantly even though he is aching inside. He knows that they only refer to each other by their super names when within the public.

He stands and looks to his father for money, but he just goes back to his table. Roman guesses he’s paying out of pocket then. He huffs and puts an ‘Out for Lunch’ sign ontop of his table before making his way to the food court.

He honestly never knew civilians had such a thing against supers. Especially young ones. But the comments proved him wrong.

“Aren’t you too young to be a hero?” says one older lady, almost non-believingly.

“The Comic Convention is next week. You know you’re not allowed to dress as supers if you aren’t one right?” A rather large man whose chin disappears into his neck informs him rudely.

“Aren’t you too dark to wear white?” another person asks, commenting on his naturally tanned skin compared to his bright white outfit.

“Is that kid a fag? What’s with the stupid hero costume?” An older man that oddly resembles a potato says loudly to his wife.

At this point, it’s all a bit too much, Roman slips out of the crowd before he reaches the food court, ducking into the toilets and trying to calm his suddenly rapid breathing. He feels lightheaded but also like his head is going to explode. He feels sick. He feels…he feels…

All of a sudden, he is on his hands and knees. His silky white and red cape sloping over one shoulder as he cries into the tiled floor. He can’t feel his hands or feet, everything hurts, he can’t stop shaking.

His mind is in pieces.

Failure.

Worthless.

Jumped up super.

You’ll never be like your parents

“kay…”

You’ll never be a good super

Just die.

“ou okay…”

Kill yourself.

“re you okay? Sir?”

KILL YOURSELF


	5. The Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the help of a new friend, will roman finally see what is really going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologise for the late upload, I had some technological issues yesterday.  
> Upload schedule will continue as planned.

“Do you need help? Sir, are you okay?” he hears a voice rip him out of his own head and he looks up, the figure too blurry to see properly, his head feels like it weights a thousand pounds, he shakes his head, sobbing.

He can’t keep up the act anymore. He just can’t. There is a soothing hand on his back, rubbing slow circles “Just try to calm your breathing okay? Try to copy mine.” The person takes Roman’s shaky, freezing hand and places it over his chest, breathing slowly. Roman copies, his breathing choppy but eventually slowing.

When his breathing stops pretending he’s run a mile he pulls himself into a sitting position, not caring about being on a bathroom floor, he wipes at his eyes and looks up at his helper.

It is a boy, about his age, slightly chubby with freckles glittering his face, big round glasses and bigger blue eyes, fluffy blonde hair on his head. “T-Thank you kind sir…” Roman manages to stutter out around his calming sniffles, still trying to keep up his heroic ideology despite the situation.

The boy smiles gently, his smile oddly calming “It’s no problem…My friend gets them a lot…” he says matter of factly which confuses Roman more than anything.

“Get’s what a lot? I just got upset is all…” Roman sits straighter this time, wiping at his tears again and only now realising that his mask is on the floor and his hands are freezing cold. The boy sees the sudden shock and quickly hands him back his mask.

“Panic attacks.” He says gently and Roman is about to refuse before the kid shakes his head “I know a panic attack when I see one and that was definitely what it was…” Roman sits and thinks it over in his head. His confusion now getting the better of him, but it is promptly cut short by the kid holding out his hand “I’m Patton. Patton Hart, Nice to meet you”

Roman looks down at his hand and back up to Patton’s face, contemplating whether to use his real name or super name. This boy basically saw him have a breakdown; it’s only fitting that he knows. “Roman…Roman Royale. Or Prince…Nice to meet you.” He says gently and Patton smiles brightly.

He shifts in front of Roman before his eyes widen “Oh wow…You’re a superhero…A real superhero…” He says giddily and Roman smiles gently and that, objecting slightly before Patton speaks up again, seeming rather excited about the subject “I’ve always wanted to be a hero…I have powers too! I mean, they’re not really very useful but I know a lot about other supers and villains s-so I’m useful in that way…I can speak 16 languages and I’m great at diffusing situations…I mean, just ask my sisters…”

Roman then realises that Patton will probably not stop talking so he raises a hand to silence him “You sound like you’d be a great hero…” he doesn’t really know what else to say but is finally becoming more aware about how dirty his costume is getting being sat on the floor.

Patton helps him to his shaky feet and smiles at him “We’d be a good team. I can feel it…I have an eye for these things.” He helps Roman clean up his costume the best they can and walks with him to the food court.

To most people this would seem rather intrusive and rude but for Roman, it’s refreshing. He has never had someone seem genuinely excited to be around him and it makes his heart burst. Not with the usual throbbing pain but with a fire of sorts, making him genuinely happy for once.

Roman lets him ramble on about superheroes and villains the entire way back to his stand, only stopping when he catches eyes of what has been done. His stand is empty. His sign pulled down, his screen off and his pictures missing. Roman almost drops the coffees in anger and shock. Patton seems to notice the anger and stays silent, looking over to King and Queen who are now glancing at Roman every now and then with angry expressions.

Roman tries to storm over to their stand which is swarmed with fans. Eventually he gives up on walking and flies straight up, floating over the top of the now amazed civilians and settling to his feet behind the table, placing both coffees down and looking out over the civilians with a controlled expression.

His parents smile at him, fakely, and his father speaks with fake-heroism evident in his voice “This, is our youngest recruit, his name is Prince. Don’t forget it.” He grins brightly and Roman does the same, smiling back as onlookers take pictures of the three supers. Roman leans down slightly “I’m going to stay, only for exposure.” He grumbles into their ears, flying off before his father can grab the back of his cape.

He lands in front of Patton who seems to be looking around at the other supers in awe and he then grins brightly at Roman. “Holy Shmokes kiddo! You didn’t tell me you were in a team with King and Queen! I mean…from the name it’s obvious but I could never imagine being the Royal Couple’s sidekick!” He says excitedly.

Roman honestly didn’t mean it to come off as rude but he frowns at that and starts walking away from him. Patton follows quickly, picking up easily on the situation “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you…I’m guessing being a sidekick is difficult right?” He asks which only makes Roman more upset.

He spins round to face Patton, his cape flowing gracefully at the aggressive move “First of all, I am not their sidekick. We are a team…We…I’m their son. We are supposed to be a team.” He growls, his voice starting with an angry tone but ending with something more akin to sorrow.

Patton’s expression drops and he then realises what is happening “You’re their kid? Wow…I-…You don’t seem to like them much…” he states which makes Roman’s head jolt up in shock.

“T-They’re my parents. I love them!” He pretty much yells at Patton. Roman only realises what he’s done after he’s done it, face to face with Patton’s upset and shocked expression with civilians and heroes alike staring at him like he had committed a crime.

He turns and starts walking, wanting to get out of that building as fast as possible. But of course, Patton starts jogging after him “Ro-…Prince…Prince, slow down, please…Please, I just want to-“ he is stopped by Roman’s back, the super now stood in the middle of the corridor.

“What.” He says, turning around to show Patton the tears desperately trying to run down his cheeks. Patton hands him his phone, wanting him to put his phone number in “If you ever need a friend…” he says gently. Roman gives him a weak smile, happy that Patton isn’t angry at him.

After he has handed back Patton’s phone with the new contact ‘Princey’ pride and place in his limited contacts. Patton grins brightly and adjusts his glasses slightly “I’ll send you a text so you’ve got my number, message me whenever you want…I’ll always be here kiddo.” He says happily.

Roman smiles at the boy’s determination to not be upset and he nods “Thanks Patton…” he pats his shoulder, the contact sending a warm feeling through Roman that he has never felt before. Patton takes Roman’s hand off him coyly and tilts his head “My parents have a stand here. You should come and meet them, they’ll love you!” he says with an enthusiasm that isn’t amiss in the superhero scene.

Patton takes his hand and starts pulling him through the crowd, away from the superhero hall and back towards the food court which confuses Roman to no end. They come to a stop in front of the stand Roman got the coffee at earlier.


	6. The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will Roman think of Patton's family?  
> Can he trust someone he has just met?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been having a very difficult time at home at the moment but I will continue to try and keep it updated for you.  
> Starting classes again next week so a pre-emptive sorry for any delays.

Now that he is actually looking, he can tell its Patton’s family’s. The large ‘Hart felt coffee’ above the large coffee van in calming pastels of pink and blue, the whole stand covered in beautiful pastel cherry blossoms and flowers. Inside the van there are two people, obviously a couple, the woman has freckles all over her, her eyes a bright green with curly strawberry hair down to her waist. The man is chubby, much like Patton, with big blue eyes and fluffy almost white blonde hair and glasses so big they could rival Patton’s. They look adorable.

Around the coffee van is a large set up of chairs and tables, all of them being waited by 5 beautiful women, some of them looking around Patton’s age and some looking in their mid-20’s. They all have different shades of hair ranging from white blonde to a vibrant ginger, all looking like a perfect mix of the two in the van.

Patton takes Roman right up to the front of the van “Mom, Dad, this is my new friend. Prince.” Patton exclaims with excitement in his voice. Roman smiles shyly at the introduction using his super name and nods at them both as they seem busy making coffees.

The mother smiles at him sweetly “I did wonder who that handsome gentleman was that you were with earlier.” At this, Roman blushes and is extremely glad his mask is covering the majority of it.

“Oh, Mrs Hart, you jest. You jest.” Roman says shyly and looks back to Patton who is currently tugging on his wrist to take him over to the tables. Roman follows after giving a wave to the two in the van. Patton then proceeds to introduce him to all 5 of his sisters. Ruby, Stella, Silke, Doreen and Agatha, All of them just as overly enthusiastic as Patton.

Roman would have thought that he’d hate having to meet so many people but after the introductions, they felt more like family than his actual family, asking him about his day, his schooling and what he likes.

He only has to stop talking a couple of times to take pictures with ‘fans’ most of which are the dregs from his parent’s stall that just wanted a full team of heroes. He stays with the Hart’s until the convention closes, helping them pack up their coffee van instead of going back to help his parents.

“Thank you for letting me hang around today…” Roman says gently as he helps Mrs Hart, Lydia, pack away the coffee cups so they don’t get broken. Lydia smiles at him gently and rubs his cape-clad shoulder “It’s no problem my dear. Having you around is just like having another son.” She goes back to packing the cups as she continues talking “People find it difficult to get along with Patton because he is so out there. I’m just glad he has a friend.” She says openly even though Patton is a few feet away talking to Silke. 

Roman immediately feels awkward in responding so he does the only thing he can think of. Open up. “My name is Roman…Roman Royale. I just-…Since I’m friends with Patton, I thought you’d want to know…” he says quickly and goes back to packing cups, only to be stopped by Lydia, a smile on her face.

“It’s a lovely name. Thank you for revealing that.” She says gently, reaching up and taking his mask off “And a lovely face to match. You don’t have to disguise around us. We can take care of ourselves, and I’m pretty sure your parents can too.” She says matter-of-factly to which Roman then realises he has never needed to wear a mask. His parents don’t.

He stops helping with the cups to slump back against the counter. Why did they make me wear a mask? My whole family are supers. My friends are all supers. They’re in no danger. He thinks as his mind rattles, trying to think of why they would make him wear one.

It is then that he thinks back to what his mother said about taking him to a dermatologist, a beautician, the plastic surgery present.

“I’m not pretty enough.” He blurts out without meaning to as the realisation hits him. His heart feels like it’s breaking as he lowers his head “I’m not pretty enough…” he mumbles this time, Lydia is currently looking at him in shock, wondering why a 14-year-old would be thinking these things.

“Sweetheart, you’re a very handsome young man. Most people would kill to have your looks. You understand me?” Lydia says, now pressed against the opposite counter watching him in worry.

Roman mostly ignores what she says in favour for trying to get the hell out of there. He runs out of the food court and towards the door, jumping into his flight so that he can soar out of the building.

The only thing he doesn’t see is the look on a certain kid’s face, an angry scowl directed straight towards the Prince.

Roman flies back to the dorms in no time, he’s stressed and tired and just wants to go to sleep. Since he is still in costume, he decides it will probably be easier to go into the window, especially since no one is in at this point in the afternoon. 

With all that has gone on Roman had forgotten one caveat. His roommate. He flies to the window and opens it carelessly, entering the room and landing flawlessly, only to be face to face with Logan sat straight up in bed, Roman’s laptop currently turned on at his desk, the screen glitching and warping.

Roman turns to look straight back at Logan in confusion “What did you do-…” he starts of angrily but stops as soon as he realises that Logan’s eyes that were previously a deep sapphire blue are now bright static, much like a broken television.


	7. The Static

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the start of a new team, have they already made enemies or will they manage to understand each others differences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been getting very hyped since Deceit's name reveal and I'm so happy to say that he will be in the story, later in the story but in there none-the-less. He will have a major part in some of the other stories in the series so stay tuned for his new input when he appears :)

“L-Logan?” he asks, taking his mask off and kneeling in front of the static young man who is still completely silent, much like a statue. Roman places a hand on Logan’s shoulder, shaking him slightly “Hey…” he tries, gently but the boy doesn’t move.

Roman shakes him harder “Logan!” he belts and Logan then blinks, his eyes going back to the pretty sapphire before he looks to Roman “What!...Oh.” he says simply, clearing his throat and moving to stand up, Roman following quickly.

“What the hell was that? What were you doing to my laptop?!” Roman growls out, not liking the fact that he as both seen Roman in costume and used his laptop without his permission. Logan just shrugs gently “Just looking up some files. I do not have a personal computer, so I did not think you would mind.” He says gently using his odd speech pattern again.

He looks at Logan absolutely flabbergasted “You could have asked…Is…is that your power? It’s a bit rubbish if you ask me…” Roman crosses his arms, walking to his wardrobe to get changed.

Logan immediately turns at that, frowning at Roman and suddenly his alarm-clock flies halfway across the room at Roman without anyone touching it. The spectacled boy growls out angrily “It is not rubbish. It is one of my genetic powers. If anything, I could declare that your power is, as you put it…’rubbish’…flight?! That is a rather uninteresting power, do you not think?”

The spandex spangled hero scowls at Logan with a rage he hasn’t felt since facing Hat man on his 11th birthday “Alright robot, that’s it!” he bellows before flying full force towards Logan, slamming him into the wall above his bed. The boy lets out a strangled yelp, pushing and kicking at Roman who easily blocks the weak attacks.

Logan lifts his hand, palm open, out above Roman’s shoulder, calling the laptop cables over with ease as they start wrapping tightly around the pompous hero. The red and white hero’s arms are tightly held to his sides as he struggles to get out of the thick cord’s grip.

“Let me go you asshole.” He snarls at the calm boy who glares back at him “You started it.” He flicks his hand to the right, letting all of the cables drop to the floor. Roman stays floating in front of him, his vision still blurred in red anger, but he doesn’t move to attack him again.

Logan looks at the levitating man with his brows furrowed in anger “You need to learn how to control yourself. Honestly. It is like battling with a child… How many times do I have to proclaim to you that I am not a villain.” He says, his voice sounding fed up and tired. Roman looks up at him and back down to his feet, shaking his head and going back to his wardrobe to change “Don’t tell anyone you saw me dressed like this.” He tells the tired man with a hit of anger still marring his voice.

They both end up going to bed without talking the rest of the night. It takes nearly a whole week before they start talking again. Roman has kept into contact with Patton the whole week, listening to the happy boy talk about making a team-up, to the point that they have come up with a team name “Bright Sparks” Roman think’s it is rather endearing and agrees.

Logan bumps into Roman in the hallway outside of their room, looking down at the tanned super with a calm expression “I cannot handle this silence anymore. Talk with me.” He says, pulling Roman back inside. Roman almost drops his phone from the sudden tug and sits on his own bed, waiting for Logan to speak first.

“My parents were not nice…They spent more time ruining other people’s lives, stealing money and causing mayhem than they did playing with their son. I had to figure out my powers by myself since they were not around to mentor me. You saw what I can do, well, some of it… I have the power of Technopathy and some Techno-manipulation…I can control technology. Makes it easy to hack into things…My whole life I have been a hero, regardless of what my parents did.” He pauses, trying not to think about what they did, to him and civilians.

“Since I was seven I have been hacking into rich tax-evaders accounts and putting their money into charity, animal care, rainforest protection, you name it. I stopped my parents when I was twelve, caught them off guard and called the police.” He frowns, looking down and biting at his lips as if what he had to say next was difficult to put together.

“I want to make a team with you. I know we have had our differences, but you are the only upcoming hero that could get the civilians to think of me as a hero. Not as just a villain…or a villain’s child.” He looks up, over the top of his glasses to look into Roman’s eyes.

Roman thinks it over for a second before letting out a small chuckle, raising his eyebrow “You think I’d team up with someone like you? You’d make me look bad. The most you can do is control a few wires and steal money. Stealing is still stealing you villain.” He is standing now, walking over to stand in front of Logan, his finger pointing threateningly at the slim boy.

“I’d never team up with someone like you. You’d ruin my reputation. Freak.” He pushes at Logan’s shoulders and leaves the room, shaking his head as he walks towards the exit of the dorms to meet up with Patton. He doesn’t see the distraught look in Logan’s eyes as he leaves, the slump of the boy’s shoulders or the shaky exhale he makes before starting to cry.

~

Roman walks into town, not wanting to contact his parents to get Theo to drop him off. He grins as he catches eyes with Patton who is stood in front of his family’s coffee shop, his signature blue shirt and a light grey hoodie wrapped around the boy’s shoulders. Roman stuck with his red varsity jacket and a white polo, he jogs across the street and pats Patton on the shoulder “Hey man, how you been?” he asks with kindness genuinely lacing his voice.

Patton places a hand on Roman’s waist for a second or two before removing it to talk “I’m doing great kiddo! We’ve got a new coffee in the shop, it’s named after you…” he says which easily peaks Roman’s interest, he looks over Patton’s shoulder at the menu stuck to the window. ‘The Red Prince’ is put right at the top in sparkly red pen under ‘TODAYS SPECIALS’.

He reads out the ingredients list with a big smile “Double shot latte with cherry syrup, whipped cream and sparkling gold and red chocolate flakes…” He looks back down at Patton with big eyes “Oh wow! Thank you so much Pat.” He says in genuine appreciation.

They continue a gentle conversation until they reach a park where Patton sits on a bench, chatting happily about supers before his eyes go wide “OH! My parents are in contact with Stitches to make me a super suit!” he exclaims happily and Roman sits next to him with a grin “Really? Stitches made my suit too! What designs did he suggest?” he asks and Patton excitedly gets his phone out to show Roman.

He flicks through a few designs before pointing out a very cute but hardcore looking one “Stitches said this one would suit me best.” It is a single coloured baby blue tactical combat uniform with a baby pink patch on the left breast pocket that has a white cross in the middle, much like a medic in the field. It has been paired with mid-calf combat boots and a baby blue eye mask with matching combat gloves.

“I love it so much!” He squeals excitedly and Roman lets out a small chuckle “It’s very you Patton…I love it too.” He says, smiling at Patton “We’re really going to create the Bright Sparks, huh?” he asks, more as a confirmation then in worry.


	8. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting a job without a full team should be very difficult but the supers are going to try their hardest to prove their worth without a third.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday tomorrow so I am not writing for that day, I usually have 4+ chapters written in advance but I think I deserve to slack a little ;)

They meet up almost a month later, costumes ready and using one of Roman’s parent’s many training rooms to practice dual defence techniques and battle tactics. Patton has been a very quick learner and almost easily holds up against Roman in hand to hand combat, although he is always worried when he actually hurts Roman and stops straight away to heal him up.

Patton has always thought his power was rather boring, he had an enhanced healing factor that he inherited from his mother. He has learned how to use this ability to heal others and with Roman’s encouragement has become proud of his role as support. Together, both supers could make lives very difficult for villains, Patton can make Roman near invincible in battle with the healing factor and Roman can in turn, keep Patton safe with his shields.

The Duo have been keeping up to date with Super social media, asking many young supers if they would like to join their team and giving out application forms when they can. Due to the secrecy and safety of the supers, many forms have been returned with only last names or Super names on the pages, most have pre-made costumes or are in the process of getting some.

It isn’t until a sunny afternoon in the park that Patton suggests a couple of the supers that got back to them to Roman. “I mean, there are a few I like the sound of…Like this kid, last name Dunstrom? He can push thoughts into other people’s heads…” Roman frowns a little at that and shakes his head “Nah. Sounds rather villainous to me. Next.”

Patton shrugs a little “What about…” He flicks through a few of the papers that he knows Roman will now not like due to his previous reaction “Last name…Calcutta? Hypnotic voice… could be good for stopping enemies?” Roman listens to Patton describe this kid and the more he hears, the more familiar they sound “Calcutta…Joan Calcutta?” He looks at Patton with alarm in his eyes and Patton just shrugs.

“I am not having Joan fucking Calcutta in my team.” He huffs out and Patton just nods “O-oh…Okay, well the only other one I like the look of is this kid, code name, Logic. He already has a suit, Blackbelt in Taekwondo, has a free schedule on the same days as us.” Roman has pretty much zoned Patton out by this point, only listening in on a few points “His powers are super cool as well…-manipulation…-pathy…enhanced intelligence? I think he’s cool. What about you?” Patton asks, looking up at Roman with big eyes.

“U-uh, yeah, sure…sound’s great, we can use him” Roman says, tuning back in when he realises that Patton is asking him a question. He smiles at the freckled boy and then glances straight to his phone when it beeps, reading a live news broadcast about a robbery downtown “Hey, Pat. Good time to test our skills, robbery downtown.” He says, standing suddenly and getting ready to run and get changed.

Patton follows and 10 minutes later they are outside the building that is currently surrounded by police. Roman walks up to an officer with a heroic smile on his face “What is the situation, we are the Bright Sparks, here to help.” He says but the officer only frowns at him and looks back to the bank.

“Kid, this isn’t the place for you. Let the real supers do their jo-…” the officer starts but is stopped by a scream from inside the building and a super getting thrown harshly from inside, unconscious and bleeding. From the pink costume it is obvious that this is MelanyMoody.

Patton ignores the officer and slips under the barriers, running towards the super and placing a gentle hand on her arm, his hand glowing a faint blue as she slowly heals. The officer watches Patton for a few seconds before looking around for another super. After not seeing anyone else he looks back to Roman.

“SmokeScreen and DarkCloud are trying to get into the bank vault. They have 17 hostages and are threatening to kill them. 6 that we know of are injured, badly and need medical treatment.” He then gestures for Roman to go to the building.

On the way there Roman pats Patton’s arm to get his attention and pull him inside the building. When they get inside, the bank is oddly quiet, no one around but the further they get in, the more they hear.

At first it is scared sobs, worried voices and a sudden bellowing deep voice “QUIET, OR YOU’RE NEXT!” the person yells out. Roman stops at a corner, holding Patton back from moving any further as he peers around it, looking straight at the back of a villain’s head, SmokeScreen’s head. Infront of SmokeScreen is 4 civilians, two of them injured. Behind the civilians is someone Roman thought he’d not see again, DarkCloud, his close aura a deep grey/black, much like a cloud.

Roman glances back to Patton “I’ll distract them, you get those civilians out of there.” He whispers before throwing up a spherical shield around himself and stepping into the room “That’s enough, villain.” He heroically yells, making SmokeScreen turn, the mans eyes a deep purple colour with no white in sight, almost looking straight into Roman’s soul.

“What the hell are you doing here, short stuff.” The muscular villain growls, throwing up his hand which makes the room fill with smoke. Roman can hear the civilians coughing desperately for air and Patton takes this as his queue, putting on a breathing mask before sneaking his way towards the civilians.

Roman smirks and flies up, going straight back down at an angle, into the body of the large man who lets out a pained huff, grabbing at Roman’s shield to throw him across the room. Patton gets to the civilians and starts healing the two injured ones, ushering the healthy ones out as quickly as he can.

Patton is interrupted by a throat clearing and he stands slowly, coming face to face with a boy who stands at about 5’4”, his black and purple outfit making Patton panic a little ‘It’s DarkCloud’ He thinks and goes straight in for a punch, missing the boy who suddenly vanishes into a black smoky cloud. Patton is thwacked in the back of the head by a fist, stumbling forwards and turning quickly only to be met with a fist appearing from the smoke to smack him straight in the nose.

His nose starts pouring blood into his mask and he hurriedly gestures for the remaining civilians to run, grabbing at the next fist swung at him and catching it, the smoke in front of him re-forms into DarkCloud, the wrist in Patton’s grip extremely thin.

As the villain starts kicking and trying to hurt Patton, Roman manages to pin SmokeScreen down and then beat the man into unconsciousness. The smoke evaporating quickly because of it. Roman shouts out the command to tie DarkCloud up as he goes to get the other Civilians.

Patton nods and starts tying DarkCloud up, the boy struggling desperately and quickly screwing his face up so that he can evaporate. It all happens in a few seconds, Patton mumbles out a small “I’m sorry…” before thrusting his fist harshly into the villain’s face, his nose cracking loudly and his head jerking back before he goes limp. Patton gasps and ties him up, panicking a little as he pulls off his mask, blood dried around his own now slightly bruised nose. He hovers a hand over DarkCloud’s face to make sure his nose doesn’t stay broken and turns at the sound of Roman yelling from further in the bank.

He jumps up and jogs in to find Roman looking at a large group of civilians in horror. One of them, a security guard, looks to have been shot, a few more are bloody and unconscious. Patton glances to Roman before moving to try and heal up the worst effected as Roman goes to see if the bank vault is still intact. Patton takes a breath and asks the non-injured to help move the others outside, leading them all slowly back through the winding hallways of the bank.

As he walks through the section of the bank where the two villains are tied up he is met with an empty room, nothing but a black cloud spray painted onto the wall. “Shoot.” He mumbles, glancing to the civilians and continuing to help them outside as Roman comes back to join in. They both smile at the cameras but when reporting it to the police Patton is the one to break it to them that the villains were not caught.

The officers seem to not care much about them getting away but are more surprised that no one died. Asking for the two to help out more often when they can which leaves them with bright smiles on their faces.


	9. The Teammate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the addition of a third to their super group, can Roman lead without hurting anyone?

They contacted ‘Logic’ after their first battle, offering to let the super become part of their small team. At the first meeting, Logic arrives in their costume, black combat gear with dark blue accents and a striped black and blue cape that looks like a large tie if you look at it too long.

They have a mask on meaning that both Heart and Prince are unable to see their face but something inside Roman clicks when he sees them, knowing that he knows them from somewhere. They are quiet, eerily quiet but can hold up in combat fairly easily. This super doesn’t speak to either of them, just nodding or shaking their head at any comments the supers make.

Logic seems to be hellbent on showing their worth, swooping in easily and taking down any surprise attacks that catch either of the two off-guard. In their third mission, Logic seems to push themself, looking into every detail which is where they find a document in Hellspawn’s hideout.

The document contains a list of heroes. Heroes Roman knows. In the corner is what looks like a logo modelled after a type of berry or fruit, this seems like a very innocent logo until the rest of the contents of the document are read through. It talks about the powers that the listed heroes have and who would be best to counter those heroes powers. On that list is Melany Moody who was paired with Smokescreen and DarkCloud. “They’re planning to attack all the supers…That’s why Melany Moody was the one to try and take on Smokescreen at the bank!” Patton shares helpfully to which Logic nods, glancing to Roman to see that he is also nodding at Patton’s statement.

Roman takes the document from the dark blue super and looks between them “The Villains may be planning to take over. Collectively. Patton, if we didn’t go to the bank that day then Melany Moody could have died. I don’t think they’re just planning to attack the supers, I think they want to kill them.” He says, shocked at the way his own voice seems to shake.

Patton looks down at his feet with a frown furrowing his brow, the trio hear the sirens of the police and Logic glances to the knocked-out villain that has been tied to his desk leg. “We should get out of here” Roman interjects Logic’s thought as he turns to the exit.

The three make their way outside and Roman informs the officers of the villain inside before they make their way to the park, their usual meeting point. They stay there until late at night, scanning over the document for any kind of clue before calling it a night and deciding that they would put as much time as they can into figuring it out.

The trio work tirelessly around school (and work) to figure out who originally sent the document and it isn’t until they are on their fourth mission together that Roman knows why he knows Logic.

During a street fight with Dr.Rose, a powerful nature villain, Roman goes for the target from above, as he is flying down to catch her in surprise he sees thick cables crawling across the ground towards her, they look like they have a mind of their own as they wrap around her ankles but the closer he looks, the more he can see it’s Logic, they are throwing their hand out towards the villain which is controlling the cables.

Roman feels a horrible rage build inside him at that ‘That asshole tricked us’ He thinks angrily, losing concentration on the way down and getting thwacked harshly to the side by a tree branch, He feels his ribs cracking from the force and only just manages to put up a shield before slamming heavily into a brick wall. The force of the impact makes him smack his head and completely lose consciousness, only coming to when the battle has ended, Patton is knelt next to Roman, healing him whilst Logic stands, rambling to Patton “I mean, if she did not throw that thorn bush at us I would have been able to grab a couple more HDMI cables from nearby-“

Roman interrupts Logic by jumping up, stumbling slightly and pinning them to the brick wall “Logan. You liar” he growls out which confuses Logan to no end, he looks between Patton and Roman in complete confusion. Patton grabs Roman’s shoulder, trying to get him to sit back down but to no avail. Logan looks at him confused before pushing him back, letting the prince fall to the floor “I did not lie about anything Prince I just withheld that I knew you.” He says calmly, fixing his clothing slightly and shaking his head “I will look into this lead about the Juniper Group Pat. See you guys back at the meeting point.” He says calmly before walking off.

Patton continues healing Roman as he talks “You should be nicer to him…He’s just trying to be a hero. He’s good at it. Almost stopped Dr. Rose single handily and interrogated her.” Roman listens but shakes his head “I have a bad feeling about this Pat. He isn’t good.” He says back, watching the passers-by that are stuck by the police barricade.

Patton sighs and then looks at Roman with a stern look “Well, thanks to Logic, we got noticed by Starcrow. They want to make us an official team.” He says matter-of-factly which leaves Roman near flabbergasted.

Starcrow is the best hero agency in the world, they keep a ranked list of superheroes and groups and pay them rather a lot of money.

Roman looks at Patton with big glistening eyes “What rank?!” he almost blurts out, knowing his parents are top of the A-list. Patton finishes healing him and helps him to his feet “They want to start us out on C-list and they’ll move us up from there…I said we’d talk with you and get back to them.” He says with a gentle tone but Roman obviously doesn’t like what he hears.

“C-list? C-LIST!?! I’m the PRINCE for goodness sake! I am NOT a C-list.” he growls and yells angrily which makes Patton flinch at the tone. “Ro, we have room for improvement…It’s amazing that we even got put onto the C-List, most new groups get put straight in F.” Patton exclaims to try and calm the raging super.

Roman listens to what Patton is saying but still seems a lot more angry at this than most. “I have trained my whole life for this and they put me on C-list.” he grumbles angrily and Patton flashes him a slightly confused frown.

“Kiddo…We got put on C-list…not just you…and considering our background, it’s a miracle they put us up that high at all…” he says with a small upset drop in his voice. Roman knows that by background he is talking about Logan’s and Patton’s inexperience. He looks up at the light blue clad super and shows him a small smile “You’re right…Sorry for getting upset.”

Patton helps Roman walk and the two make their way back to their meet-up point to wait for Logan. As they sit on that park bench, Patton calmly starts talking with Roman, trying to understand the Prince’s strangely adverse reaction “So, why don’t you like Logic? I mean, he is a nice guy…he’s really powerful too.” Patton starts, making sure that Roman understands who’s side he is on.

Roman seems rather abhorrent at the thought of talking about Logic so he shakes his head, straightening out his outfit as he speaks “Logan is…He’s a villain. He’s the son of Techno and Brain. That super is just asking for a Hero, a real hero like you or me, to knock him back into his place. He’s acting way out of his league and it’s just going to fail him when people realise who he is.” He tries to keep his voice in check as he talks, not wanting to show his hatred in his voice.

Patton’s face is blank the whole time as he listens, the light-blue super’s thoughts going a mile a minute as he sees Roman’s reaction to the harmless super. “But Ro, He’s helpful…I understand where he’s coming from, he just wants to change peoples perception of him…I know he is good and to be honest, he was the most helpful one in that fight.” He gently responds, looking at Roman with worried, big eyes.

Roman opens his mouth to respond but is stopped when he spots Logan making his way into the park, a calm look on his face but because of his dark outfit, civilians look at him with slight worry and fear in their eyes. Roman knows this isn’t a good idea but it doesn’t seem like he has any other choice at the moment.

Logan looks between the two when he gets close enough, crossing his arms at Roman’s sour look “I managed to find a lead on the Juniper Group.” He says as a statement, needing to be heard. Patton nods his head, looking at the super with big eyes as he awaits the news. “The Juniper group are much like Starcrow, they ally with Supers…villains, to pay them for crimes against the government” he continues.

Roman raises an eyebrow as he looks at the other “Do they have a base of operations? How did you get the information in the first place?” He asks the questions with a continued suspicious look and Logan responds looking at Patton instead of the Princely super.

“They have a base of operations but I fear that was hidden from me so I am unable to get the location. I got the information by hacking into the dark web and searching for it. It seems that they are recruiting on a Villain server.” He says with a calm, almost bored look on his face. Roman seems to understand what Logan did as his face relaxes slightly, he nods his head slightly and then looks around the park.

“Lets go back to the dorm rooms so that we can talk about it in private. Split up, we’ll meet there in half an hour.” Roman says calmly to which the other two nod in agreement and then split up.


	10. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Has Roman ruined his relationships already? Will the bright sparks be able to make it as a team and get the information they need?

When they eventually get to Roman and Logan’s room, Patton distractedly looks around at Logan’s space themed decorations with a smile as Roman and Logan try to talk through the plan.

Logan looks at Roman with a stern look as he talks, the shine on his glasses making him look slightly sinister “It seems that SmokeScreen is a part of the Juniper group, from the looks of the initial sweep over their website, I think that DarkCloud may be related to him but of that, I am not yet sure.” He looks at Roman expectantly and the Princely super nods.

“It would be good if we could take both of them out whilst we infiltrate the Group. Could give us an edge over the competition at Starcrow…” Roman thinks out loud, looking up at Patton for some kind of input but the other seems too invested in playing with a solar system model so he continues “See if you can find any other information about the other villains that may be part of the group…Maybe a log of sorts?” he asks, trying his hardest to be kind to the other super.

Logan nods stiffly as he glances to Roman’s laptop “May I use your laptop Roman?” The spectacled boy asks kindly to which Roman nods, appreciating how he asked this time.

The technical super moves to sit at Roman’s desk, opening the laptop and placing his fingers against the screen, all of a sudden the laptop bursts to life and immediately starts flicking through hundreds of pages on the internet, screens of code appearing every now and then. Logan’s eyes have turned back to the blank static and this seems to catch Patton’s attention as he turns to watch the other with wide interested eyes.

Roman resorts to fiddling with the corner of his blanket as he looks to Patton “Pat. I need to talk with you…” he says, standing and moving to talk just outside of the bedroom. Patton follows after looking back at Logan, gently shutting the door behind him so Logan can work.

The two look at each other in silent suspense for a moment before the tanned super starts to speak “I have a plan…I don’t think Logan will like it but it will be the best way to take the Juniper Group down…” he exclaims, Patton’s eyes scanning Roman’s face to see whether the other super is joking.

“What do you mean plan? What is it.” He asks, seeing the disheartened look on Roman’s face. The other responds by opening and closing his mouth for a few seconds as if collecting his thoughts, he looks back to the door and then to Patton, his voice lowering so that if Logan were to be listening in, he would not hear anything.

“If Logan infiltrates the Juniper Group then we will have inside access to things that Logan may not find searching the web…We can destroy them from the inside out. It could be our only chance to do this and Logan is our best choice...” As Roman speaks he can see the horror filled expression appearing on Patton’s face. He knows he can’t stop now as Patton already knows where this is going.

“His parents are high class villains, they will accept him almost instantly, I’m sure of it…If Logan is on the inside then we can-…We can release all the information about villains. Make them public so they have nowhere to hide.” He says but as he is talking, Patton is shaking his head, the expression on his freckled face morphing from horror to anger.

“Are you out of your mind?!” he yells which spurs another student to poke their head out of their room and grumble at the two “Guys, some people are trying to study in here.” He says before disappearing back into his room after a small apology from the shorter super.

Patton sighs in distress, sliding a hand into his curly hair “Logan’s reputation as a hero will be completely destroyed if he does that. He will never agree to do it.” He says in disagreement, shaking his head and moving to pace slightly as he thinks of something else “W-what about me? I could do it. I don’t have a reputation as a villain or much of a hero since we just started out….Or maybe we could hire someone to do it?” he asks spouting his ideas to Roman hoping something will stick with the other.

Roman shakes his head to both of Patton’s ideas, stopping him with a hand on his arm “Pat. They won’t accept you, you’re too nice to be a villain. And hiring someone else to do it is basically like asking them to steal our lead.” He says, trying desperately to reason with Patton.

He leans down slightly to look into Patton’s eyes “we can give him a different name, trick the Juniper group into thinking they’re different so his reputation won’t be ruined… We could even tr-.” He is interrupted by Logan opening the door to look at the two “I managed to find a partial log. Most of it has been redacted…”

He gestures for the two to come back into the room as he starts spouting out what he found. “The partial logs give codenames and last names. Some of the Villains, I remember because of my parents.” As he says the last part he looks between the two who look pale and confused “I-…My parents used to have villain parties round my house, invited a lot of friends and colleagues.” He then continues talking as if the two other supers aren’t already dealing with the Princely super’s plan.

Roman interrupts Logan as the boy continues on about coding infrastructure “Logan. We have a plan.” Patton looks at Roman in betrayal, his eyes starting to water as he knows what is coming.

Logan looks at Roman in silence before glancing to Patton and seeing the emotional expression on the freckled boy’s face “What is it.” He asks, knowing it’s going to be nothing good.

“We think it would be best…for you to apply and infiltrate the group.” Roman says slowly as if he is trying to process that he has said it himself. Patton looks utterly lost at the mention of the plural We. Logan frowns at the outlines that are said to him “Why me? What do you mean infiltrate, are you referring to being a spy?” he asks, staring at the tan super with a slightly angry gaze.

Roman nods at Logan’s response expanding on his point slightly “Yes. I mean being a spy. And You would be the best person for the job because-…Well, because you’re the son of Super Villains. They will take you in quicker and it will give us a fighting chance of actually saving some of the supers.” He says, trying to get his point out much faster than before.

Logan’s shoulders drop in what can only be described as loss, the speckled super stands and then without saying a word just leaves the room, shutting the door gently behind him and leaving the other two in complete silence.

The two don’t move at first, confused at the calm response from the tech super before Patton frowns at Roman “Sort it out.” He says in a tone that Roman can only describe as fatherly anger. Roman nods begrudgingly and leaves the room, cautiously looking both ways down the hall for the other only to see a glimpse of him headed towards the stairs and so naturally, he follows.

Roman’s speed picks up slightly after calling Logan’s name a few times and realising that the other may not stop. He manages to grab Logan’s elbow at the bottom of the stairs, turning him so that he can try to explain himself but is stopped in his tracks when he notices the look of pure sorrow on the others face, tears welling in his eyes and his nose brushed with a red hue.

“You never even bothered to try and see me as a hero, did you.” Logan says, his voice shaking, on the verge of sobbing. Roman is at a complete loss for words, the emotion the other portraying shaking him to his very core.

He messed up.

The tan super moves his hand from Logan’s elbow to his shoulder, looking into the others eyes “Listen Logan, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for the plan to upset you. It was the only logical explanation…” he says but as he is saying it Logan is shaking his head, a single tear glistening down his cheek as he desperately tries to hold back the flood gates.

“No. No you meant for it to upset me. You knew what you meant as soon as you thought of that idea.” The spectacled boy says before taking a few deep breaths and continuing “But what you said, it makes sense. Of c-course the Juniper group would trust me, especially with my family’s reputation.” He reveals, looking down at both of their shoes to try and come to terms with what he is saying.

“If.” Logan starts, seeming to be trying to both hype himself up and calm himself down “If I do this…You have to promise that you won’t let the media ruin my reputation…You have to promise me that I-…that I’m still a part of the team when this is over.” He says, looking back up into Roman’s eyes with such sorrow and determination that Roman doesn’t really know what to do apart from nod.

He places his other hand on Logan’s tricep and dips his brow in a show of determination “I will try my best to keep the media at bay.” He declares, keeping the eye contact so that Logan knows he is telling the truth.

If he is going to let Logan do this, he wants the other to know that he can be trusted.


	11. The Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan understands his role and gives it his best.

After their much-needed talk as a group, they manage to pull together a rather good plan of action. Logan will apply to the Juniper group under the name Static, he will stage a group breakup and act as if he fell out with the Bright Sparks so that he can infiltrate and extract information.

The plan seems like it would be a brilliant success, and now, all they had to do is carry it out.

Two days into their plan and they catch another lead of one of the lower down members of the Juniper Group’s whereabouts and make there way over, ready to stage the breakup. As they get there, Logan pulls them into a nearby alleyway, looking between the two of them “I am going to make it look realistic, so I apologise if I hurt either of you.” He says gently to which Patton and Roman just nod before they step back into the street, Logan splits away from the group slightly as they start fighting a low-life powered thug. Over the top of the fighting Roman and Logan throw comments to each other, from an outside perspective it seems like a full on in-team fight.

As the tousle with the villain, Roman’s comments towards Logan get more and more real, more hurtful, Logan has already punched Roman in the side of the head and is now blatantly ignoring the villain in favour of trying to get to Roman.

“You’ll never be a real hero and you know it Logic!” Roman throws at him and even though it’s a ‘fake fight’, Logan knows it is the truth. He uses the overhead electrical wires and waits until Roman and Patton are stood in a puddle before shouting back to the other. “And You will never be a real leader!” He screams, throwing the electrical wire into the puddle and electrocuting the two supers, kicking down the thug before storming away from the scene.

He is pacing around the hideout when they both get back, rather frayed from the electric shock and Patton just sits down, looking at the floor as he heals himself, Roman looks at Logan with a stern look on his face “Hopefully they bought it.” He says, the look not leaving his eyes.

The intelligent hero doesn’t apply to the group until the school break, not wanting his schoolwork to be interrupted by such a plan and also not wanting to seem too eager into the idea of becoming a villain. The whole plan revolves around timing.

The application process is not as difficult as they originally thought, it only involved hacking into the dark web’s villain servers, finding the group and filling in a form about the person, the super name, family situation and crimes committed. Logan found filling in the crimes section unsettlingly easy as Roman had previously stated, him hacking into other people’s bank accounts to transfer money out was technically criminal.

Roman watches him throughout the application, if anything it was just to keep an eye on Logan, to make sure that the other really didn’t think that this was a malicious plan.

It isn’t until 3 days later that he receives an email from The Juniper Group. As Logan reads it, his expression slowly drops into what looks like complete despair. He Looks up at Roman who is now expecting nothing but bad news but is pleasantly surprised when Logan says that he has been accepted into the group.

As Roman is contacting Patton to tell him the good news, Logan stares at the email, his expression broken as he wills himself not to cry. He knows that he comes from a villain family but following in his parents’ footsteps does nothing but upset him.

Roman doesn’t seem to notice Logan’s despair, turning to him with a grin and patting him on the shoulder “Good job techie!” he praises gently and before Logan has the chance to say anything else, Roman continues “I spoke to Stitches and he is going to be updating your costume for you so it looks more villainous. You’re going to get us so famous!” The princely super squeals in joy, not seeming to give Logan any input on having his costume changed.

Logan looks at his lap instead of at the prince, thinking over the fact that both Roman and Patton seem invested in this so it must be a good thing.

He is doing a bad thing for the right reasons.

When the time comes, Logan dresses in his costume before he goes to meet the group leaders. The updated costume isn’t much different from his original. The Blues are slightly darker and more sinister, his logo has been changed from a bright technical looking intelligent brain to a sinister, more realistic and gorier looking counterpart.

He takes the train as close to the location as he can and walks the rest of the way. He can see how people physically recoil at him as he walks, civilians looking genuinely scared and upset and as much as he would love to say this upset him. It doesn’t.

He imagines that it is because he is just getting into the mindset, into the character but somewhere in the back of his head, he worries that it is his genetic villainy that is encapsulating him.

As he arrives, he looks up at what looks like a normal office building with a Juniper tree in the front courtyard. It seems rather posh and out in the open for a group so hidden. Something doesn’t seem right and yet, he can’t place it, making his way into the building with false confidence marring his features.

At the front desk he follows the orders he received in the email. He looks the woman at the front desk in the eye and calmly asks to see Dagon. As he waits, he looks around the reception area to see that it looks too normal, something doesn’t seem right. The man in the back corner has been flipping over the same page on a book for the whole time Logan has been in the room.

The woman at the table is pretending to look in a pocket mirror, the reflection aimed at him. Logan can feel the surge of electricity and technology surrounding the room in almost a cage-like way, covering the walls, the floor and even lining the doors.

Just as the nerves start hitting him, he is told to report to the Dagon on the 15th floor. He nods to the desk worker and walks through the small security gates towards the elevator. As he enters, so does the woman who previously held the mirror. She stands just behind his left shoulder, the feeling of her eyes piercing the back of his head making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

As the elevator slowly rises, he can feel the tension in the room dissipating. Almost as if this whole process was a test to see if he would do anything brash. The elevator stops with a bright ding before the doors open to a mostly empty room with two desks near the large window that seems to overlook most of the city. Other than that there is no one. Nothing. And for Logan, this whole situation seems much like a trap.

**Author's Note:**

> Currently on Hiatus due to medical reasons.  
> Will resume at the Authors next convenience.
> 
> Each chapter is a short read at around 1200 per chapter.


End file.
